India on Monday appealed to the United Nations to adopt a treaty against terrorism, IANS reported.

“Even as the global threat from terrorism continues to expand exponentially, we here at the United Nations have so far been unable to adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism,” Yedla Umasankar, the legal advisor at India’s United Nations Mission, told a meeting of the UN General Assembly.

New Delhi had initially proposed the treaty, which provides a legal framework that makes it binding on all signatories to deny funds and havens to terrorist groups, in 1996. However, it has not yet been ratified, mostly based on differences of defining a terrorist.

He called for a “genuine political will” to combat terrorism. “We have even entangled ourselves in definitional issues as to who is a terrorist,” Umashankar said. “We sincerely hope that given the serious and growing menace of terrorism across continents, a genuine political will to cooperate on these issues will emerge.”

China supported India’s plea for the United Nations to adopt the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, PTI reported. Chinese delegate Shi Xiaobin said that efforts to counter terrorism must strictly comply with international law.

“In the fight against terrorism, we must uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, respect the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of the countries concerned, and abide by the rules of international law regarding the use of force and crime punishment,” he said.